If OnLive’s single-box streaming video game solution was a bit too bare-bones for your tastes, Google and Vizio have a much more attractive option for you to consider. Going for $99, the Vizio Co-Star box—a media stream player that houses several “smart TV” applications and feature—is now available for pre-orders.

For people who need a smaller video games budget, the Vizio Co-Star packs in an OnLive feature that can stream the service to any HDTV—and it’s the first media box to do so. That means you’ll be able to play its online games collection for the same price that you’d get with the regular OnLive gaming system, but this time with the benefit of apps like Google TV, Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Instant Video.

There’s also the price and portability factor to consider—with most HDTVs, the “smart” software is embedded in the TV set itself, and you can’t move it around or share it. But, this solution lets you plug-in and plug-out via USB and HDMI, so you’re not really “married” to the TV you bought for 5 apps out of the 15 you’re not using.

If the price point is low enough for your hand-earned cash, Vizio’s pre-order link is right over here if you want to throw in your early purchase ahead of the early adopters. You’re on your own if you need any OnLive controllers (it doesn’t seem like the Vizio Co-Star comes with one, which is a bummer), although I’m pretty sure you know where to track down a couple of them.

McKinley Noble has been writing about video games for seven years as a blogger and journalist, with each job adding to his painstakingly alphabetized collection of retro gaming memorabilia. When not cracking jokes about the gaming industry, he's a talking encyclopedia when it comes to mixed martial arts and anything MMA related. Follow him on Twitter: @KenTheGreat1. Meet the rest of the crew.